Local News

On the job training

FBLA students job shadow at local businesses

Sterling High School FBLA student Kylee Harless practices using the computer system for check ins at Sterling Livestock Commission. She was one of four FBLA students who took part in a job shadowing experience Wednesday. (Callie Jones / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

Sometimes the best way to figure out if a career field is really for you is to get first-hand experience in it. Four Sterling High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) students had the opportunity to do just that Wednesday, when they spent time job shadowing at local businesses.

According to chapter adviser Chris Kelley, the students took part in the job shadowing, not only to learn more about their career interests, but also for the Peak V state FBLA award. There are five Peak Award levels; each one requires chapters to submit a portfolio, in report format, with information about the activities that the chapter has completed.

Mark McDonald, owner of McDonald & Kiel Physical Therapy, helps show Sterling High School FBLA student Maggie Alsup how to use a piece of equipment. Alsup spent the day Wednesday job shadowing at the business. (Callie Jones / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

Among the students who participated in the job shadowing was junior Kylee Harless, who spent the day at Sterling Livestock Commission. She was looking for something in the agribusiness field for her job shadowing experience and after bringing in her 4-H beef to SLC one day, she thought why not job shadow there.

She spent the day doing check-ins and learning how the business uses their computer system. Harless also planned to watch how a sale is conducted. Owner Jim Santomaso even kidded her that he was going to have her do some of the auctioneering during the sale.

Office Manager Becky Santomaso said they were happy to have Harless come and see what they do, because so often people don't understand everything that goes on there.

Advertisement

"We deal with a lot of money in a day's time, with customers and buyers. So, it's a good learning experience and practice for her going into ag business to see what we do in the office," she said.

Harless agreed, saying, "people don't realize they have a lot money coming through here. They see the sale ring and they think that's all it is; they don't realize Becky's job is far more than that."

Sterling High School FBLA student Abigail Cross helps pour milk for children at lunch during her job shadowing experience at Sterling Early Learning Center. (Callie Jones / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

By mid-morning she was already enjoying her time there. "It's a business; yes you've got to be serious, but we laugh a lot too, so that makes it a fun time." She said being there helped her see what people mean when they say "if you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life."

Her job shadowing experience definitely helped her see that she wants to go into agribusiness.

Another student, freshman Maggie Alsup, spent the day at McDonald & Keil Physical Therapy. She said she has been introduced to occupational therapy in the past, but wanted to explore it more. Before this she did some shadowing in school with her mom, who is an occupational therapist, but she wanted to see it in a different setting.

Sterling High School FBLA student Grace Reeves helps students with a problem during her job shadowing experience at Ayres Elementary. (Callie Jones / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

Alsup started her day watching therapists conduct physical therapy sessions for hip and shoulder therapy; later she planned to watch some occupational therapy. One of the things she thought was most interesting was how they check to see the progress of their patients.

She enjoyed her time there and learned a lot. "It gives another perspective to (therapy)," she said, adding that it's helped reaffirm her desire to go into occupational therapy.

The owner of the business, Mark McDonald, said he is glad to have FBLA students and other students come learn about physical therapy and other kinds of therapy. Besides high school students, they also invite college students in to complete the hours they need to get to get a physical therapy degree.

"We love having students here, because it reminds us why we're doing this and shows us that there are new younger people interested in coming into our field."

He commended FBLA, calling it a wonderful organization that helps students learn business leadership skills for many fields, including healthcare.

The other two SHS students who participated in the job shadowing spent the day working with young children.

Abigail Cross, a junior, learned about daycare and preschool at Sterling Early Learning Center. She said she really wants to be a daycare provider and thought the center would be a good experience to try it out.

By mid-day she had spent time helping the children with arts and crafts, story time, snacks and lunch, "lots of learning-type stuff."

"I'm impressed with how smart the children are. It's exciting to get to see them learn, see the light bulb go off when they learn things," Cross said.

She has worked with children at Sterling Recreation Center in the past, but said this was a different experience, one that has made her realize she definitely wants to do something teaching children.

A fourth FBLA student, sophomore Grace Reeves, spent the day shadowing Kristy Chavez, a teacher at Ayres Elementary. She chose Ayres because ever since she was little she has played teacher with her sisters and teaching is something she wants to do as a career. "I thought, why not see what it's like from a teacher's point of view, find out how they keep kids engaged in learning."

Reeves spent her day working with students, helping them with problems they were working on, interacting with them in small groups and as one large group, "seeing what it's like to teach from a teacher's perspective."

She enjoyed interacting with the students and said the experience has definitely made her want to look at pursuing a teaching career.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.